Andy Reid On Kendricks, Curry

Opening Remarks: "In the second round, we’ve been a little but busy. Mychal Kendricks is an outside linebacker from Cal. We took him with our first pick in the second round and we’ll play him at SAM linebacker initially here. He’s played all three (LB positions). The things you see with him are great athletic ability and speed. He was the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. He gives you a good opportunity to cover the tight ends. He’s just a little below six foot in height and he has good mass to him when you see him. We’ll bring him in tomorrow and give you guys a chance to meet him and let him get introduced to Philadelphia. We’re very excited about him. You think of being the Defensive Player of the Year in the Pac-10 and you bring a little bit of heat with that, so we welcome him aboard to help strengthen our defense along with (DE) Vinny Curry.

"Vinny Curry is a rush defensive end from Marshall. I mentioned this the last time I was up here but really he was just the best player on the board at that time. There was no way that we could pass him up just sitting there. He wasn’t an immediate need or anything like that. It’s not a worry with any of the guys that we have like (DE) Brandon (Graham) coming off of a knee or anything like that. That’s not what this is all about.

"It’s just a heck of a young football player who might be the biggest Eagles fan ever. He grew up in Jersey here. I think when you meet him, you’ll see he grew up an Eagles fan and he’s dreamed of playing here. He and (defensive line coach) Jim Washburn developed a relationship over this whole draft process and have stayed in close communication with each other throughout this thing. Again, he has one speed and that’s 100 miles per hour. That’s how he plays. Along with all of his vivacious personality, he’s quite a colorful guy and really loves to play the game."

On selecting three defensive players to open the draft: "A lot of it is best player available the way it fell. It wasn’t something where we came in with a plan that just says, ‘Hey, we’re going to go strictly just defense.’ It’s welcomed, and I thought we were playing very good defense at the end of the year. We had these fellas into it and into the mix. It creates great competition and certainly increases our athleticism. Certainly these three guys are great athletes."

On whether they traded down because there were guys they liked toward the bottom of the second round: "We did. We had a handful of guys sitting there that we liked. Vinny was one of them."

On a possible logjam at defensive end: "You’re going to carry four to five defensive ends during the season, and that’s a very good problem to have. A very good problem to have. I don’t mind that one bit and I love that competition there. I’m excited to see how Vinny fits in there and works."

On why Kendricks fits at SAM: "He’s played all the positions. The one thing that really interests me there is we’re getting a phenomenal pass rusher on that side. We’re getting someone who can really cover the tight end, and his pass cover skills are a strong part of his game. When you see the way he’s built, you’re understand. He plays a very physical game. You’ve heard the term when someone is very heavy handed, so when he locks onto you, he’s pretty strong with that."

On whether SAM is evolving more into a speed position than a size position: "You need a combination. In this day and age, you’ve seen where the safeties evolved in this league to where if you can’t cover and run, you’re going to have an issue and you’re going to get exploited. That’s the case with your outside linebackers in a 4-3. You’d like them to have the ability to run and be athletic and make plays."

On Kendricks handling tight ends that are larger than him: "He’s had success with that. In the Pac-10, they throw the ball once or twice out there. You get a little bit of a pinch there with him covering some guys. We’ll see how he does. That’s been one of his strengths so we’ll see how that transfers over. I’m thinking it will. You’re also getting a team captain and a tenacious football player. I know they’re showing some of those clips but that’s kind of what he is and that’s what you get. He’s one of those guys who love to play the game."

On what makes speed a valuable commodity for an outside linebacker to have: "You want to try to, from an offensive standpoint, find a weakness in the defense. Then, you want to exploit those weaknesses. From a coaching standpoint, I’m trying to eliminate any of those weaknesses the best I can from a defensive standpoint. I think that these players, and in particular you’re asking about Kendricks, he’s the type of player that doesn’t present you with a lot of weaknesses as long as it carries over. He is coming from the college level and I’m expecting it to carry over obviously or I wouldn’t have taken him, but as (general manager) Howie (Roseman) and I looked at this thing, we just thought that he had great speed, cover ability, toughness, and all of those things you’re looking for from those linebackers."

On whether speed is more valuable because of teams copying New England’s tight end system: "That’s a unique situation with a unique quarterback. How much of that happens, I can’t tell you that. I don’t know if that’s going to be a trend or not. Tight ends in this league have been catching balls a lot over the years."

On whether there are steps that have to be taken when a player like Curry drops: "I think we know a lot about him. He’s a local kid, and things like this happen during the draft. When you get into the second and third rounds and whatever flavor that team wants, and so he got passed up. I don’t think it’s anything against his play ability, character or anything like that. He’s not a problem. He was a very productive player at Marshall against good caliber players. You see it happen every year, though."

On whether he projected Curry to be a late first-round pick: "Yeah, late first, high second. I think that’s where most people probably had him just from talking around. I think most people had him in that area."

On whether there are any issues with Kendricks being suspended two games in college: "No, I think we’re alright there."